Transformers Lore: The Reapers
The following is specific to the Transformers: Infinity universe. The reapers were an elite group of Cybertronians that existed long before the Golden Age. Their ranks existed of the most abnormal of the race, all of which possessed special talents that separated them from the norm. The group was headed by the most powerful, Mega Zarak, who started the reapers as a alternative school for these special Cybertronians. After a few thousand years of teaching, he showed his new colors by fleeing with his best students to the far off world of Char, and began practicing a dark art: Unicron Worship. Due to the worship and their power, it is believed that Unicron gave them even greater power than they had before, and tasked them with attacking Cybertron. Mega Zarak turned an ancient worship temple into a massive robot form, towering over anything that had been built before. The group took on the new name of The Reapers, and though they were few, they launched a full scale attack on Cybertron. One Reaper was the equivalent to 1000 relatively passive Cybertronians, and the race was almost wiped out. It was not until a return of an ancient Prime that the race was convinced to develop weapons to fight back. The leader of this resistance was a small bot named Cerebros, a past student of Zarak. He used his advanced telekinetic power to fashion a robot form for himself that matched Zarak's, which he called Fortress Maximus. He and the other "Primus Knights" fought against the Reapers, driving them back and eventually trapping them all. In a final battle with Zarak, Maximus managed to peform a final attack that split Zarak and his giant form's consciousness in two, resulting in a total shutdown of the two. The backfiring of the blast caused Maximus to be forcing into a portal between dimensions, causing him to disappear from this universe forever. Members Mega Zarak Mega Zarak was the founder of the group, and the basis on which the rest of the members joined in on. Zarak was bullied for his abilities to control the minds of machines and metallic matter, which eventually lead him to believe they were scared of him. His first glimpse of his mature life came when he tore the bullies limb from limb and hung them in a back alley. Zarak was not a transforming Cybertronian, and was considered low class. He eventually gained enough notability to take the special cases off the main school's hands, and was considered a very friendly but sometimes radical bot. Sixshot Sixshot had a special mutation among transforming Cybertronians. He could take on six forms at once, while the majority of the species could only take on two. Due to this, he was sent to the special school, where Zarak took a particular liking to him. He was taught how to fight, and eventually took up combat vehicle modes for all situations. After school he began a career of skillful assassinations, becoming known as the "One Man Army". He would eventually be asked by Zarak to join him on Char, which he happily accepted. Sixshot was eventually defeated in the late stage of the Reaper invasion, fighting his own son Quickswitch in the Sea of Rust. Neither one could work up the courage to kill one another, and Quickswitch managed to trap Sixshot in a sinkhole, where he became trapped for millions of years. It wasn't until an expedition by the remnants of the Decepticons under the control of Shockwave that he was uncovered, and was forced to bow to Shockwave's will. Devastator Devastator was unique in the fact that he could take over the minds of any other Cybertronian. This talent put him at a great risk of immediate termination, but Zarak took him in and trained him. He taught him to use his powers to control the strong, and merge their bodies into one to become his own. Devastator stayed and hid with Zarak on Char, and was a major player in the invasion. He was narrowly defeated by the giant knight Omega Supreme in the battle of Iacon. Instead of dying, Devastator merely split himself up into 6 separate individuals, hiding away forever. The problem was that none of these bots had memories, and would not be able to reform him. During the time of the Great War, 2 of his components discovered their origins, and sought out to recreate Devastator. The first was Mixmaster, who became a cultish worshiper of his creator, and tried to use his scientific background to simulate Devastator. He eventually discovered Scavenger, another component, and convinced him to join his cause. Because of this, Devastator during this war was not fully functional, and little more than a brute. Mixmaster eventually learned that the Decepticon High General Bonecrusher was also a decedent. When Bonecrusher refused to join, and then try to kill the other two, Mixmaster had his drones forcibly remove his spark. The three were then forced to jump into a vat of acid to escape the encroaching Aerialbots. It is not known if they survived, but sightings of Mixmaster have persisted in some Earth cities. Tarn Tarn was a heavily skilled user of weapons, to the point where his body was a weapon. He was considered a threat to the race, and was taken in by Zarak to avoid termination. Zarak trained him to use these weapons very effectively, and turned him into a skilled killing machine. He joined Zarak on Char, and seized many cities alone during the invasion. He was defeated during the Battle of Kaon, and seemingly fled the planet after the defeat of the Reapers. The current city of Tarn was named after him. Double Dealer Double-Dealer, sometimes known simply as Dealer, was a recruit with a special skill of being able to assume two robot forms. Zarak used this ability to turn him into a master spy, and left him on Cybertron to make sure that none of the Reaper's plans went wrong. After the end of the invasion, Double Dealer remained in his disguise well into the Great War. He was a major player in the beginning of the Great Decepticon Uprising, where he was finally uncovered. He was damaged to the point of not being able to keep his forms straight, and had to revert to his original. He fought and killed Air Raid, making him a major enemy of Warpath. He fled with the revived Megatron to Earth, and quickly began hatching a plan to kill the leader. This failed as he was quickly and simply beaten down by the dark commander, and he fled to Char to the ancient Zarak temple. There he consulted the spirits of Zarak and his new larger form named "Scorponok", and Dealer went out to attack Cybertron directly. After a few run ins with the New Autobot Elite Guard and others, Double Dealer's mental state deteriorated, and was killed and resurrected multiple times. Double Dealer was eventually trapped in a sub dimension by Cliffjumper, though at the cost of his life. Recent Events Years before the Great War, a young Megatron lead a group to the planet of Char to investigate its historical significance. Upon arriving, they discovered the ancient temple and ventured inside. This proved to be a mistake, as Scorponok identified the evil just barely visible in Megatron's spark. He exploited this, taking Megatron into a world where he was the ruler, and expanded on the evil that was there. Zarak, however, took a liking to his crew mate Shockwave, and violently dismembered him, forcing him to become even more cold and logical. A rather unlucky scientist decided to stare too long at Scorponok's spark, eventually driving him insane. He would go on to take Scorponok's name and plot against Megatron during the Great War. The last crewmate, a young communications officer named Soundwave wondered into the temple after the rest had been gone to long. He came across the warped Megatron, who convinced him that his way would save his planet. He was also given a variety of pets that would work with him, which he grew extremely attacked too due to his loneliness. The four would then return to Cybertron to slowly spread their new views, and eventually start the Great War.